Genius - Lorne Balfe (Theme by Hans Zimmer)

5/13/17​

What You Will Hear: A mix of synth, marimba, and strings. A small collection of violin music from Bach and Mozart closes out the album.

Standout Tracks: Genius, Proving the Theory, Forbidden Love, Nobel Prize, The Talk of the Town

Will You Be Humming Along? Zimmer’s theme is a collection of heavy descending pairs of notes, but it doesn’t show up in Balfe’s tracks.

The album this makes me want to dust off: The Crown – Rupert Gregson-Williams

Will I come back to it? Yes. This was a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Zimmer’s theme is big and almost foreboding. It doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the album, but it works on its own. It feels like Balfe had Einstein’s wit and intelligence in mind with every note he wrote. There is energy through every track. You’ll hear a lot of repeated patterns in the strings, but they’re never boring. Instead, the music has a feeling of playful perpetual motion. The synth with strings combination sometimes sounds “off” (See: Proving the Theory), but it totally works. It is endearingly quirky, not distracting. My only complaint is that there isn’t more music on this release to enjoy. But, even with that limitation, Lorne Balfe continues to climb my list of favorite composers.